One of my guilty pleasures is the murder mystery. One or more people are dead. We don’t know who killed them. Catch them before they either get away...
Whispers of a Machine – An inventive puzzle game with a “killer” plot…PLUS cyber tools
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J.S. Morin
Inspector Gadget had nothing on the modern smart watch
Can we take a moment to appreciate the technological majesty of the smart watch? Dick Tracy was an American comic strip that debuted in newspapers...
District 9 – A dystopian future, or an uncomfortable past?
It never became a franchise, because it was never looking to become one. District 9 feels like a forgotten relic of an era that wasn’t even all that...
Last Angel has Fallen – Why I scrapped my take on an unanticipated apocalyptic failure
Armageddon has come, the demons won…but the last humans are looking for a rematch OK, I talk a lot about stuff I decided not to write because it was...
Check the Haul (a Black Ocean Christmas parody)
Holiday fun, reimagined by J.S. Morin for the Black Ocean fan group December 2021. Fa la la la la, la la la laFa la la la la, la la la la Check the...
Dice Throne – A cool adventure…or “Yahtzee with hitpoints”
Dice Throne is a fantasy combat game that, boiled down to its core, is “Yahtzee with hitpoints.” Each custom hero comes with their own playing board...
Portable Payment Processors – No cash? No problem…there is an app for that
How are we going to explain the change jar to our grandkids? When I was a kid, I had a wallet that had velcro to keep it closed. It usually only had...
Who is the galaxy’s most interesting man?
Hint: it's not me. What I'm currently writing: My current project is getting Mission Pack 1 of Black Ocean: Passage of Time ready to release. I’m in...
Willow – A classic 80’s epic fantasy that is still worth a watch today
What do you get when you combine George Lucas & Ron Howard? Willow… Once Upon a Time, George Lucas had finished his Star Wars opus and needed a...
Want to hear my dream plot for “Starcraft 3”?
Who is ready for the next Starcraft game? I dreamt I wrote it.. I never really went through a fanfic stage as a writer. Apparently, as author origin...
EarthBreak: Omega Protocol – Finally…a mystery game for the SciFi crowd
Experience a next level whodunnit mystery with aliens, AI, and a paranoid band of human survivors. EarthBreak: Omega Protocol is a mystery puzzle...
Hot Wheels, Matchbox…and microchips?
Your age will determine your relationship to them, but just about everyone will at least be familiar with a particular type of tiny toy cars called...
My Secret Life as a Screenwriter
You never grow as a writer without trying new things. I started out writing epic fantasy before I found my groove with snarky sci-fantasy...
Brave New World: A 1931 novel, a 2020 television show…a 2022 reality?
George Orwell’s 1984 seems almost naive in retrospect, believing that a faceless government would strip all privacy, create a surveillance state,...
Wizard’s Wishes – Could a cop show with criminal wizards really work?
One of the key quirks that made the early seasons of the X-Files great was the Mulder/Scully dynamic, where he came up with these wild,...
Skyrim created a world too awesome to bother saving
If you’re familiar with Skyrim, congratulations. You don’t need to be told. But for everyone else, this 2011 Bethesda game is a classic. There, I’ve...
AI-generated artwork: Move Over Dalí, it’s DALL-E Time
In the earliest days of machine automation (we’re talking about looms here), workers worried that they’d be rendered obsolete revolted. These...
Writers don’t get summer vacations
I seem to remember, a long time ago, that school started in the first week of September, shortly after Labor Day. It feels like it’s gotten earlier,...
Good Omens: A Buddy Comedy For The Apocalypse
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett are two of the better known fantasy authors of the late 20th Century. Their works are snarky, irreverent, and often...
Sidekick Powers
Can A Good Pun Become A Great Book? I no longer recall where or when this idea originated, just that it came from not paying attention. I probably...
Truberbrook: Twin Peaks meets Fringe
Truberbrook is a point-and-click mystery game set in a quaint little town in the mountains of Germany. And by quaint, I mean batshit crazy. It’s an...
Ballpark In-seat dining
Press 1 For Peanuts. Press 2 For Cracker Jacks. A few weeks ago, my wife and I ventured out to see our former hometown (or at least, home region)...
Meet Black Ocean: TNG
Welcome to my first formal author update where I'll talk about what I'm working on, plus any general news (if relevant). This new topic will replace...
You only WISH your pet store carried these!
From Pokemon to Disney princesses, magical pets are common throughout fantasy fiction. Some are mere companions, others ferocious guardians. But...